The best ear protection for babies and toddlers

As a newly minted grandfather, I worry even more about the world and the future, and what it will hold for our grandson and for all children and grandchildren, especially about keeping him safe and healthy. The Centers for Disease Control and the American Academy of Pediatrics have lots of advice about avoiding sun exposure, but little to nothing about avoiding noise exposure.

A few quibbles. The article doesn’t state how these were evaluated. NIOSH and OSHA evaluate hearing protective devices and assign a Noise Reduction Rating-NRR, but this evaluation appears to be the opinion of one audiologist.

And while I’m glad that the industrial-strength 85 decibel sound exposure level wasn’t mentioned as the noise level at which hearing damage occurs, the 70 decibel standard cited may be too low. Sound above 70 decibels for short time periods probably won’t cause hearing loss. It’s a time-weighted average sound exposure of 70 decibels for the whole day that prevents noise-induced hearing loss. Noise dose calculators like this one can help one understand what constitutes safe noise exposures.

Parents and grandparents should remember that to protect children’s hearing, if it sounds too loud, it IS too loud.

Common recreational activities, including using certain toys, birthday and other parties with amplified music, sports events, air shows, car races, and children’s action movies, are often dangerously loud.

And headphones should probably not be used by children for personal music players or digital devices, with or without an 85 decibel volume limit.